tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12291041143473141002024-03-14T02:31:11.276-07:00The Idle InvestorSimple, common-sense investing - themes, strategies, stock tips, ETFs, Investment TrustsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-83066905366427712102015-10-14T11:52:00.005-07:002015-10-14T11:55:44.618-07:00HSBC is our share tip of the week - 5 reasons to invest (Video)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IBTimes Video Link Below:</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></h4>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 35px;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hsbc-our-share-tip-week-5-reasons-invest-video-1522829" target="_blank">HSBC is our share tip of the week - 5 reasons to invest</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-2013477208993956422015-10-14T11:50:00.004-07:002015-10-14T11:50:55.709-07:00Bloomberg TV interview (Video): Why I like eurozone banks for Q4, even Deutsche Bank!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><i>Bloomberg web link to Video below:</i></b><b><i><br /></i></b></h4>
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<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-10-14/bnp-s-shing-singles-out-db-as-an-opportunity" target="_blank">Bloomberg TV interview (Video): Why I like eurozone banks for Q4, even Deutsche Bank!</a></h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-9371294306792130042015-10-14T11:48:00.005-07:002015-10-14T11:48:31.944-07:00Budget airlines EasyJet and Ryanair soar toward investment success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">IBTimes UK web link to article, video:</span></i></h4>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-budget-airlines-easyjet-ryanair-soar-toward-investment-success-1523970" target="_blank">Budget airlines EasyJet and Ryanair soar toward investment success</a></span></b></div>
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I recently flew back from Geneva to Paris after a long day of meetings with clients. But I didn't fly with either of the two flag-carrier airlines, Air France or Swiss. Instead, I chose to fly with EasyJet, in the process saving my employer hundreds of euros.</div>
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While I did arrive 15 minutes late in Paris, due to the airplane being late to arrive in Geneva in the first place, something else struck me. I was amazed at how full the flight was, with hardly a spare seat left on the aircraft. No chance of me getting the aisle seat I prefer.</div>
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What is more, so many people had opted, like me, to pay extra for speedy boarding in an effort to get a seat near the front of the aircraft, that in the end it didn't offer much of a benefit. Except to EasyJet of course, who made more money out of all of us.</div>
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That set me thinking – how well is the distinctive orange-liveried airline performing this year? Digging into the monthly passenger traffic statistics from the EasyJet website, the answer seems to be that they are doing very well indeed.</div>
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EasyJet enjoys strong passenger growth</h3>
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Every month this year, EasyJet (UK code EZJ) has carried more passengers in Europe than over the same month in 2014</div>
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For the first 9 months of the year, EasyJet has on average carried 6.5% more passengers than over the same period in 2014.</div>
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Clearly, with Ryanair also carrying a record number of passengers in 2015, budget airlines are enjoying a banner year on the back of strong consumer confidence and a stronger pound sterling, which has improved British tourists' purchasing power abroad.</div>
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EasyJet's aircraft are fuller than ever</h3>
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Profit growth isn't just about how many passengers are carried per year; what is at least as important is how full each flight is. This is expressed as 'load factor' - the percentage of an aircraft's seat capacity that is filled by a paying passenger.</div>
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In the case of EasyJet, the load factor is also improving this year over 2014: each month since March, EasyJet's load factor has been higher than the corresponding month in 2014. So EasyJet's profits this year should be better than last year's, not only because they are carrying more passengers, but also because each aircraft is on average fuller than last year.</div>
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Analysts following EasyJet are forecasting 20% earnings growth for this year, followed by 9% further growth in 2016.</div>
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Is EasyJet the only choice in budget airlines?</h3>
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An investor who wants to capitalise on the growth in budget air travel across Europe actually has a number of investing options apart from EasyJet:</div>
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<li><b>Ryanair</b> (UK code RYA) is the biggest budget airline in Europe by number of passengers carried. They claim to be the first airline to have carried over 10 million international passengers in one month, achieved in July 2015. They also achieved a record load factor in July of 95%.</li>
<li><b>Wizz Air</b> (UK code: WIZZ) is a budget airline that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and which focuses on no-frills flights out of London Luton to Eastern Europe, including to Poland and the Czech Republic. This is a growth market given the large growth in UK immigration from Poland, Romania and other recent entrants to the European Union over the last few years. They carried nearly 2 million passengers in July 2015, and are seeing 20% year-on-year passenger growth this year.</li>
<li><b>Air Berlin</b>, listed in Germany, is a low-cost German airline operator. However, unlike Ryanair and EasyJet, Air Berlin is struggling against Ryanair, EasyJet and Lufthansa, and is projected to make a loss this year.</li>
<li><b>Norwegian Air Shuttle</b>, listed in Norway, is a low-cost airline operator that not only operates low-cost flights to and from Scandinavia within Europe, but which also operates long-haul budget flights to New York from London Gatwick. So next time you want to spend a long weekend in the Big Apple on the cheap, look up www.norwegian.com!</li>
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A final note on EasyJet: not only is it cheaper on valuation than either Ryanair or Wizz Air, but it also offers a decent 3.7% dividend yield and is sitting on over £400m of cash - both good supports to the share price. While normally I am not a fan of investing in airline shares, I would make an exception for EasyJet.</div>
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Edmund</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-2717770262308691082015-07-02T03:11:00.001-07:002015-07-02T03:11:16.803-07:00Idle Investor: Three simple strategies to beat the professionals (VIDEO)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Video Interview with Juliet Mann of news.markets</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://news.markets/shares/three-simple-strategies-to-beat-the-professionals-10209/" target="_blank"><b>Three-simple-strategies-to-beat-the-professionals</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this first video of a new series, the Business Book Club, fund manager Edmund Shing explains his three simple strategies to earn high returns and beat the professionals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Shing, global equity portfolio manager at BCS Asset Management in Paris, outlines his simple, low-risk investing system that beats market indices and fund manager performance over the long term, but requires only a few minutes of investors’ time each month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The strategy is detailed in his book The Idle Investor and Shing argues that even the laziest investor can achieve it. The Idle Investor includes three straightforward DIY strategies for long-term investing, Shing tells Juliet Mann. All you have to do is follow the simple rules.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each method requires only a limited amount of time and they all make use of easily accessible, low-cost funds. Shing’s three strategies are: The Bone Idle Strategy, The Summer Hibernation Strategy and the Multi-Asset Trending Strategy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, argues Shing, being idle doesn’t mean being unsuccessful. “If you are looking for a straightforward investing method that lets you get on with your life while your money grows in the background, then become an Idle Investor,” he says.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-56246868844595240492015-07-02T03:07:00.004-07:002015-07-02T03:07:59.626-07:00On CNBC Today Talking About China: A Long-Term Play, But Not Yet!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Be patient if investing in China: Fund manager</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Edmund Shing, global equity portfolio manager at BCS Asset Management, discusses China's economy and its recent easing policies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000393528&play=1" target="_blank">CNBC Video Link: Discussing China</a></b></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-27403639348584794812015-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:002015-06-25T07:26:34.405-07:00Forget Greek debt woes and buy into the European market recovery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>International Business Times UK Video link:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-forget-greek-debt-woes-buy-into-european-market-recovery-1507545">Forget-greek-debt-woes-buy-into-european-market-recovery-1507545</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have to admit it - I am sick of being asked over and over again for my opinion on Greece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Will it stay in the Eurozone or will it be forced to leave? Is the Greek drachma going to come back? And so on and so on...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is what I really think deep down: whether Greece stays in the Eurozone or not, I believe that you should be investing in Eurozone stocks anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have three reasons for believing this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. The European economy is improving and Greece is small</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greece is the 13th-largest economy in the EU (out of 28 member states) and only contributes 1.3% to the EU by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the classical measure of economic output.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So it frankly hardly moves the needle compared heavyweights such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">European economies are improving. Not just the UK's, which we can all see through the lens of the employment and property markets, but also in Continental Europe. In Germany, unemployment rates remain at generational lows. Wage growth is now starting to pick up, giving employees more purchasing power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the same time, the cost of living in the UK is staying low, thanks to the fall in oil and petrol prices plus subdued food prices. The cost of eating is being depressed in large part by ongoing price wars between supermarket chains and discounters like Aldi and Lidl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, the weaker euro has helped boost exports from Germany, Ireland and Spain to the rest of the world (while the strong pound is making the UK's exports relatively more expensive).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of this has boosted the Euro zone's economic growth rate, as measured by GDP.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Eurozone GDP growth has picked up</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg62ZOldaGY9FM4wJfFTFcIonpqR_fkQMz6_7-Axo8yMQqfLVD8XwUX1-8RQ6lgzvqhzfD02M12GaaDMRgJjL2o34KlgGtK6xeoS-xM7T3Zm1hEBBmEtZLsjAxExs4eTdg5ywkOqjdhnO0/s1600/eurozone-gdp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg62ZOldaGY9FM4wJfFTFcIonpqR_fkQMz6_7-Axo8yMQqfLVD8XwUX1-8RQ6lgzvqhzfD02M12GaaDMRgJjL2o34KlgGtK6xeoS-xM7T3Zm1hEBBmEtZLsjAxExs4eTdg5ywkOqjdhnO0/s400/eurozone-gdp.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: tradingeconomics.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Reforms are boosting both economies and company profits</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy have made varying degrees of progress in lifting regulations and easing job-market rules, changes that can lead to better growth. Ireland and Spain are now the fastest-growing economies in the EU, and even Portugal is improving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the company level, investors are seeing a whole host of reforms too. Companies have become much keener on cost-cutting and are targeting their investments on good growth prospects. It has become somewhat easier to hire and fire employees, an essential reform to encourage companies to employ more people to boost sales and profit growth in the long-term.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This corporate strength is reflected in the very high levels of business confidence seen across the European Union today, with companies looking to invest for future growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>European business confidence is at a high</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YLCZ9fi839fxh8m4vWJfRiMSoeDC-XfCTPXv3UdVJvoh3IA1MWQKR55iXaIK1iaDDsMvw8bphKpHDf730nYRZW3Dv13ndG3q5-M5mg9R2kaM14Sf5YpzEx8JPIE2DdiInLb59VU0Zwo/s1600/european-business-confidence-high.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YLCZ9fi839fxh8m4vWJfRiMSoeDC-XfCTPXv3UdVJvoh3IA1MWQKR55iXaIK1iaDDsMvw8bphKpHDf730nYRZW3Dv13ndG3q5-M5mg9R2kaM14Sf5YpzEx8JPIE2DdiInLb59VU0Zwo/s400/european-business-confidence-high.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: tradingeconomics.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The result is that the profitability of European companies has surged over the past few years. Even banks, which have been under the regulators' cosh since the 'Great Financial Crisis' are now starting to see growth in profits, which is translating into growth in dividends too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. European shares are cheap</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At 15 times price/earnings ratio, the European stock market is cheap relative to other large stock markets such as the US. Shares in countries such as Spain and Italy look particularly cheap. And European stock markets are also cheap relative to their own history, if you compare today to the last 30 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At the same time, European companies pay out an average dividend yield of well over 3%, which is an income which is not to be sniffed at in these times of near-zero interest rates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With the improvement in the underlying Euro economy continuing, European companies should continue to produce strong profit growth; thus an attractive combination of growth and value, which is what experienced investors look for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What to buy? The direct way via an exchange-traded fund</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The easy way to buy into European value and profit recovery is through a fund: I would recommend a cheap exchange-traded fund (ETF) such as the <b>db x-trackers MSCI EMU Index UCITS ETF </b>(code: XD5S).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an ETF that is:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cheap (they only charge investors a management fee of 0.25% per year);</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">priced in pounds sterling (current price £18.09); and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">currency-hedged so that investors do not suffer from any weakness of the euro currency against the pound sterling.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What to buy? The indirect way via UK stock which is heavily exposed to Europe</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second option is to buy shares in a UK company that has a heavy exposure to Continental Europe, and which should thus benefit from future Euro area growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I would look at <b>Sky</b> (code: SKY). We all know and love Sky for providing us with satellite TV (namely sports, movies and of course not-to-be-missed series such as Game of Thrones), but Sky has also recently integrated Sky Deutschland (its German + Austrian equivalent) and also Sky Italia (Sky in Italy).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In all three countries, Sky is the dominant satellite TV provider. Sky is an excellent company which is dominant in a number of the largest countries in Europe. It will thus benefit from higher consumer spending in Continental Europe.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As an additional inducement, remember that the Rupert Murdoch-controlled US-based Fox network still owns 39% of Sky's shares, and have recently rebuffed two offers to buy this Sky stake from Vodafone and from France's Vivendi.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps Murdoch is thinking of buying out the 61% of Sky's shares he doesn't own in the near future?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All in all, the bottom line is that Greek concerns should not dissuade you from investing in European recovery, whether via an exchange-traded fund or via Sky.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-63831835805849445372015-06-19T06:32:00.001-07:002015-06-19T06:34:38.974-07:00Idle Investor Book Is Out!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivovPXkgFk8Ygw0C-L2B7furJ4qKQAfv2Exyc9nXjSzT8rYI771wAp-j5Zq5Gt5IPiaqfJmNMMKipVat7miSfF22-MfbHhovqTbBPBDe6emgTbfge8e1QusyttdQWwLP4LnHo00XImmJQ/s1600/3d-book.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivovPXkgFk8Ygw0C-L2B7furJ4qKQAfv2Exyc9nXjSzT8rYI771wAp-j5Zq5Gt5IPiaqfJmNMMKipVat7miSfF22-MfbHhovqTbBPBDe6emgTbfge8e1QusyttdQWwLP4LnHo00XImmJQ/s320/3d-book.png" width="183" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Order from the publisher Harriman House: <a href="http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/728/investing/edmund-shing/the-idle-investor/" target="_blank">The Idle Investor (2015)</a></b></i></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<i>or from amazon.co.uk:<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Idle-Investor-Edmund-Shing/dp/0857193813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434720796&sr=8-1&keywords=idle+investor" target="_blank"> The Idle Investor (2015)</a></i></h3>
<br />
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Earn high returns and beat the professionals using 3 simple strategies</h3>
<h4>
<o:p></o:p></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are you tired of the paltry interest rates on offer at banks
and building societies? Are you are unsure where to begin when investing your
own money and concerned about shares given the two sharp drops since 2000?
Would you like to use a simple investing system that beats broad market indexes
and fund manager performance over time, while limiting the risk taken, and
requires only a few minutes each month? You could be an Idle Investor!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In <span class="Emphasis1">The Idle Investor</span> you will
find three simple DIY investing strategies for long-term savings. The methods
here are mechanical, so there is no need for you to figure out what to do each
month - you simply have to consistently follow the rules of the strategies.
Each of the methods requires only a limited amount of your time per month and
they all make use of easily accessible, low-cost index funds. The principles
behind why the strategies work and everything else you need to know to put them
into practice is explained clearly and with worked examples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The three strategies are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span class="Strong1"><span lang="EN-US"><b>The Bone
Idle Strategy</b></span></span><span lang="EN-US">: Part of your portfolio is
allocated to shares and part to bonds. Adjustments to the portfolio are only
required on two occasions per year. The rest of the time you do nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span class="Strong1"><span lang="EN-US"><b>The Summer
Hiber</b></span></span></span><span class="Strong1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><b>nation Strategy</b></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: For part of the year your
portfolio is allocated to shares and for part of the year it is allocated to
bonds. Once again, adjustments to the portfolio are only required twice per
year. The rest of the time you do nothing.</span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span class="Strong1"><span lang="EN-US"><b>Multi-Asset
Trending Strategy</b></span></span><span lang="EN-US">: A simple trend-following
method is employed to determine whether to hold your portfolio in shares or
bonds. For this strategy you will need to check your investments and make
adjustments once per month.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="ListNumbered" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each of the three Idle Investor strategies has been tested
for the period 1990 to 2012, with the result that they delivered average annual
returns ranging from 11% to 28%. By comparison, a buy-and-hold approach of
investing in UK shares would have delivered 8.5% per year over the same period.
The three strategies also limited the downsides experienced from stock market
falls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are looking for a straightforward investing method
that will enable you to get on with your life while your investments earn money
in the background, become an Idle Investor. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-31838779267201946942015-06-16T05:03:00.000-07:002015-06-16T05:03:36.748-07:00UK goes mad over online shopping - BooHoo and Sports Direct worth an investment look<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I admit it – I just love buying stuff on Amazon. I love the simplicity, the speed, the ease; such a contrast to actually having to go out and find a shop on the high street that actually stocks what I want, and at a price I am prepared to pay!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Clearly, I am not alone.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The UK is gripped by online shopping fever</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today, almost £1 in every £8 is now spent online in the UK (<i>Figure 1</i>), by over 42 million digital shoppers. Now that is quite a feat, particularly when you realise that only 4% of all food sales are done online.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Online now represents more than £1 in every £6 spent on non-food sales, according to the British Retail Consortium.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>1: Over 12% of total retail sales are done online</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrUY7r5U4Mr5VFLZiwy-P_4XR2V-bHjCKL7-Q1KBNXhu0jpKa_aWtdGsWP3jsSbdiZNItYRts4C7WBH2aXr6mhoRbb6FBJZPZrcum0N7Q7Yta2CSHLS4OH3i5nuDkyr-yH9UJzpJ0kOuw/s1600/1retail-sales-online.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrUY7r5U4Mr5VFLZiwy-P_4XR2V-bHjCKL7-Q1KBNXhu0jpKa_aWtdGsWP3jsSbdiZNItYRts4C7WBH2aXr6mhoRbb6FBJZPZrcum0N7Q7Yta2CSHLS4OH3i5nuDkyr-yH9UJzpJ0kOuw/s400/1retail-sales-online.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: ONS</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">As you might expect, online sales are growing faster than retail sales in "bricks and mortar" shops.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Online shopping grew 13% over the last year (to April 2015; <i>Figure 2</i>), compared with overall retail sales growth of under 5% since April 2014.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>2: Online retail sales up 13% in a year</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LTl1e0m7iApEV6c1JLCv71sHRZ3GFI1CGMM8B2pbtk5-Vh3k5Si8gbtnAGjsUz7YKhH5pXmTpc2wX2b6Vci8sOYLeO8WOBQ_0TRB948uw0NtM78CuICKWBIsSBY0UMc_4ulAROYFCfU/s1600/2online-retail-sales-13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LTl1e0m7iApEV6c1JLCv71sHRZ3GFI1CGMM8B2pbtk5-Vh3k5Si8gbtnAGjsUz7YKhH5pXmTpc2wX2b6Vci8sOYLeO8WOBQ_0TRB948uw0NtM78CuICKWBIsSBY0UMc_4ulAROYFCfU/s400/2online-retail-sales-13.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: ONS</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">UK is the European leader of internet shopping</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did you know that we in the UK are in fact the world leaders in internet shopping?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year, we are predicted to spend nearly £1,200 shopping online, even more than the average American online shopper and around 10% more than in 2014 (<i>Figure 3</i>).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>3: UK shoppers spend an average of £1,174 online</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEGSBh1HzJ4tjkIH0Xdi99mlVk0EcKaCwmfYurNaTbYlceWmU9ALDyvpxibC9Ros9Rg17jvYYDtD0rn6Hf3N6je77FrJcxXRPfjvyvdF8h2osEPB_ElIJYmOuKFn8_W1fYoOljHULUZ-w/s1600/3uk-average-online-shopping-spend.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEGSBh1HzJ4tjkIH0Xdi99mlVk0EcKaCwmfYurNaTbYlceWmU9ALDyvpxibC9Ros9Rg17jvYYDtD0rn6Hf3N6je77FrJcxXRPfjvyvdF8h2osEPB_ElIJYmOuKFn8_W1fYoOljHULUZ-w/s400/3uk-average-online-shopping-spend.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: econsultancy.com</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Delving into the top 50 ecommerce retailers in the UK, 30 of them are from the retail sector, while another 12 are in travel, transportation and leisure.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of the top e-tailers are immediately obvious to anyone who has not been living in a proverbial cave: Amazon, Apple iTunes, and eBay.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Online shopping via mobile phones and tablets is now the fastest-growing area of ecommerce. And the top UK mobile retail category for searches is fashion, in the form of clothing, apparel and accessories. 65% of smartphone users search for fashion items using their device, according to Econsultancy (<i>Figure 4</i>).</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>4: Fashion is the most popular mobile retail search</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfyZvG9Q42zzhKgf2x0SIC_vFSHGtb7Q6sIoqtOokbjca1oII37f-ZTNh5ewAhbltrieFGIaDcBGOWJw3-SxdW6qX2NB3W5v5a2m-_61_J3PoMOww2vBzch2ubGUb6WUffAL0Ol5rFBCk/s1600/4fashion-popular-online-shopping-mobile-search.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfyZvG9Q42zzhKgf2x0SIC_vFSHGtb7Q6sIoqtOokbjca1oII37f-ZTNh5ewAhbltrieFGIaDcBGOWJw3-SxdW6qX2NB3W5v5a2m-_61_J3PoMOww2vBzch2ubGUb6WUffAL0Ol5rFBCk/s400/4fashion-popular-online-shopping-mobile-search.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: econsultancy.com</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Investing in UK online retail</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the UK, <b><a href="http://www.boohoo.com/" target="_blank">BooHoo</a></b> (code BOO), <b><a href="http://www.asos.com/" target="_blank">Asos</a></b> (ASC) and <b><a href="http://www.sportsdirect.com/" target="_blank">Sports Direct</a></b> (SPD) are all direct beneficiaries of this move to buying sports and fashion clothing online, at the cost of more traditional high street clothing chains such as BHS and TopShop.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Out of BooHoo, Asos and Sports Direct, I am particularly keen on BooHoo and Sports Direct as good long-term online retail plays.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A quick check on the Alexa web ranking website gives a very positive first impression (<i>Figure 5</i>). BooHoo.com is certainly getting more popular relative to other online retailers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>5. BooHoo.com is becoming more popular, relative to other similar websites</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9X6Bfql7Ah3aoAwYi2pmKjTRuGh0aTsksa5OZ9sQE6oa6kkM8ee0ltnGrENjCgiKrUxcKgFO-Y7byHPNZijJ8O82jzBvJcCtDODcqcE2Y6PfHdn-n776ZbzplQVX9_kqwNR-XmA2UYfc/s1600/5boohoo-com-alexa-ranking.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9X6Bfql7Ah3aoAwYi2pmKjTRuGh0aTsksa5OZ9sQE6oa6kkM8ee0ltnGrENjCgiKrUxcKgFO-Y7byHPNZijJ8O82jzBvJcCtDODcqcE2Y6PfHdn-n776ZbzplQVX9_kqwNR-XmA2UYfc/s400/5boohoo-com-alexa-ranking.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: Alexa.com</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is more, BooHoo's 10 June trading update highlighted a 35% increase in sales for the 3 months to 31 May, with 3.3 million active customers worldwide (32% more than a year ago).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Very strong growth, backed by lots of cash which can be used to make further investments for future growth too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All in all, this looks a rather attractive proposition to me at BooHoo's current 28p share price.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sports Direct harness Click and Collect</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sports Direct's website makes great use of their brick-and-mortar chain of stores to offer a "click and collect" service. With Click and Collect, you first order your sports goods on their website, and then collect the parcel from your chosen local Sports Direct store once it has arrived.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Online sales are now over 14% of Sport Direct's total sales, but are growing at an 11% annual clip and are also helping to improve the company's profitability.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While you pay £4.99 for this delivery option with Sports Direct, you get a £5 voucher back to spend in store when you collect your order. So while in principle you pay nothing for delivery, it cleverly entices you to make another purchase from either the store or the website.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Conclusion</b>: BooHoo and Sports Direct are two great ways to invest in the UK online shopping boom.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-35248709148797948732015-05-29T02:35:00.001-07:002015-05-29T02:35:06.356-07:00CNBC Guest Host: Talking about China (amongst other things)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>CNBC Europe: Squawkbox programme - Video Link below:</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000382541&play=1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Chinese market volatility worrying: Strategist</b></span></a></h4>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-61411403767835281442015-05-28T05:23:00.005-07:002015-05-28T05:24:52.663-07:00Make money from a strong pound at Marks and Spencer and Majestic Wines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>IBTimes Video Link (click below):</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-make-money-strong-pound-marks-spencer-majestic-wines-1502971" target="_blank">Edmund Shing: Make money from a strong pound at <br />Marks and Spencer and Majestic Wines</a></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This week, pound sterling hit its highest level against other major world currencies for over seven years (<i>figure 1</i>), judging by the Bank of England's Pound sterling index.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 1: Trade-weighted pound back at highest since mid-2008</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4qrelhRiVTG_cGntwc9F_621F1Z3JIuwva9CHiD5v5RPN5BishGZndQdFdF1aDFxi4aLPC3WFv2o2k8xNiqvUn-8jAkKGeD7Wvc3CF5Q89ZP3GDTzmL1xwJYjFdK-s2j2vTds6sn5Ew/s1600/trade-weighted-pound-mid-2008-2015-comparison.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4qrelhRiVTG_cGntwc9F_621F1Z3JIuwva9CHiD5v5RPN5BishGZndQdFdF1aDFxi4aLPC3WFv2o2k8xNiqvUn-8jAkKGeD7Wvc3CF5Q89ZP3GDTzmL1xwJYjFdK-s2j2vTds6sn5Ew/s400/trade-weighted-pound-mid-2008-2015-comparison.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Bank of England</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This latest surge has been driven by the political certainty given by a Conservative general election victory, plus a following wind for the UK economy as:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Unemployment continues to fall</li>
<li>Retail sales surge higher (+4.7% year-on-year in April 2014)</li>
<li>The domestic property market resumes its upwards march.</li>
<li>Pound posts big gains against the euro and Aussie dollar</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of the major world currencies, the pound has gained against virtually all of them so far in 2015, save the Swiss Franc (<i>figure 2</i>).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 2: Pound makes big gains against the euro and Australian dollar in 2015</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGCtIPlsg2PvkQGklpc-X2JHvesaAeadTi3FyiFBL_8QALGo0Pz8CjyqZ-HOgPXAaqRs0s4bHEOhA3oGc5Ya_2c2PIbOdhTK_9lqyaxTGrYIZqqah7HFTcn5FjhKi5iMObv1vsL0-dis/s1600/pound-gains-against-euro-aussie-dollar.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGCtIPlsg2PvkQGklpc-X2JHvesaAeadTi3FyiFBL_8QALGo0Pz8CjyqZ-HOgPXAaqRs0s4bHEOhA3oGc5Ya_2c2PIbOdhTK_9lqyaxTGrYIZqqah7HFTcn5FjhKi5iMObv1vsL0-dis/s400/pound-gains-against-euro-aussie-dollar.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Bank of England</i></div>
<div>
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The biggest move has been the near 10% jump against the euro (from €1.29 at the beginning of 2015 to €1.41 currently).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The pound has also posted useful gains against the Australian dollar and Swedish crown too, with only the Swiss franc doing better this year so far.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
Why should sterling stop here?</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As long as the British economy keeps steaming along and the European Central Bank continues with its programme of bond buying (so-called Quantitative Easing, or QE), we could well see sterling return to the heady heights of €1.50 reached on several occasions between 2004 and 2007 (<i>figure 3</i>).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 3: Pound hit over €1.50 several times 2004-07</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1_DL6y32-kD0lZFxCgsuTEVXZWixAQ-tIkF4EFSSw_3Z9FdL_bdDnLtGNwicfsmDbA8NMWXiN2Ypu_hyVXRJhWRoQ2WKfXMr1fF3gOK-VyxHif7yeQdrdncnZqyToZTx-9qnYHPEI5o/s1600/pound-hit-1-50-euro-2004-2007.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd1_DL6y32-kD0lZFxCgsuTEVXZWixAQ-tIkF4EFSSw_3Z9FdL_bdDnLtGNwicfsmDbA8NMWXiN2Ypu_hyVXRJhWRoQ2WKfXMr1fF3gOK-VyxHif7yeQdrdncnZqyToZTx-9qnYHPEI5o/s400/pound-hit-1-50-euro-2004-2007.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Bank of England</i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After all, the euro remains undermined by the ongoing Greek saga, while the extremist leftist party Podemos has made large gains in the local elections in Spain, underlining the political fragility of the established ruling parties across the eurozone and introducing yet further uncertainty.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Remember, if there is one thing financial markets hate, it is uncertainty – one area where the UK has a clear lead over its continental European cousins with a Conservative majority government now voted in.</div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<br />How can we make money from a stronger pound?</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One sector a canny investor should look at is the retail sector, given the majority of the goods sold on the UK high street tend to be imported. After all, a stronger pound means cheaper prices for imported goods, especially from the eurozone where the exchange rates have moved the most over recent months.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Food and drink is one big category where the UK imports a lot from the likes of Spain, France and Italy. Overall, the UK imports 40% of all the food consumed, much of it from our eurozone neighbours.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This should give a welcome boost to supermarket and upmarket food store chains such as Tesco (TSCO) and Sainsbury's (SBRY). I would focus more on two other retailers where I see potentially greater currency-related benefits.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The first is the venerable <b>Marks and Spencer (MKS)</b>, which recently reported strong results. The retailer is continuing its slow transformation into primarily an upmarket food retailer along the lines of John Lewis's successful Waitrose chain.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Its Simply Food store format is enjoying a lot of success, and Marks and Spencer is focusing its new store programme on this format. While we may think fondly of the retailer as the nation's favourite purveyor of underwear, in actual fact food and drink now accounts for 57% of Marks and Spencer's UK sales.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The second retailer who could get a big profit boost from the stronger pound is wine warehouse chain <b>Majestic Wines (MJW)</b>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This £300m company is the UK's largest wine specialist merchant, with 213 stores selling wine by the case to 643,000 active customers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
French, Spanish, Italian and Australian wine imports in particular should all become cheaper in pound terms for Majestic to buy in the coming months and could deliver a useful profit bump.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Majestic should also see faster growth ahead following its recent acquisition of leading online business Naked Wines.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So go shopping for wine bargains thanks to that stronger pound, and why not add Marks and Spencer and Majestic Wines into your shopping basket while you are at it.</div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-43059676106826703762015-05-19T05:56:00.001-07:002015-05-19T05:56:53.666-07:00HSBC and Co-op Bank do battle as sub-1% mortgage wars break out<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>International Business Times Video Link below:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-hsbc-co-op-bank-do-battle-sub-1-mortgage-wars-break-out-1501106" target="_blank">Edmund Shing: HSBC and Co-op Bank do battle as <br />sub-1% mortgage wars break out</a></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Could the first sub-1% mortgage rate be around the corner? Actually, it is already here. While the Co-op Bank recently launched a 1.09% two-year fixed-rate mortgage (which will move back to the standard variable rate (SVR) at the end of the term), HSBC has beaten this with an initial rate of 0.99% on its two-year discount special mortgage.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is hardly surprising then that existing homeowners are thinking about remortgaging to lower their monthly mortgage payments. Surprisingly enough, the SVR on mortgages has actually risen since 2010 and now stands at 4.5%.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 1. Two and five-year fixed mortgage rates still falling</b> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjxQ-vWEwqtKK4fvhzli9uvo1RQNbYpnQEp-K6R0R7sMBObTZ4o4BRV69U9S6mJH93s8u1kc7ZnIsroq2Vowm-Cswhp3EOIXz4tZekSXRL26unhIo-isDSzCKDaJGOCP-CbHd5i0C09A/s1600/mortgage-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjxQ-vWEwqtKK4fvhzli9uvo1RQNbYpnQEp-K6R0R7sMBObTZ4o4BRV69U9S6mJH93s8u1kc7ZnIsroq2Vowm-Cswhp3EOIXz4tZekSXRL26unhIo-isDSzCKDaJGOCP-CbHd5i0C09A/s400/mortgage-1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Source: Bank of England</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The average two-year fixed mortgage rate has fallen to under 2%, while the average five-year fixed rate is under 3% (<i>Figure 1)</i>. And if you shop around, you can now find sub-2% five-year fixed rates too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nearly one in six homeowners are thinking about remortgaging over the next six months, according to a recent Nottingham Building Society survey.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They are hoping to save on average £99 per month, or nearly £1,200 per year. This is all thanks to the ongoing mortgage price war, driving rates ever lower. Let's face it, with the Bank of England base rate at a historic 0.5% low, interest rates are likely to only go one way in the long-term – up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So remortgaging with a multi-year fixed rate will at least insulate the homeowner against the risk of higher rates for the foreseeable future.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Average mortgage rate on outstanding mortgages</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But how much is the average mortgage borrower paying at the moment? The Bank of England says "nearly 3.2%" (<i>Figure 2</i>).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, this average rate has come down over the past five years, but it is still a long way from the current best two and five-year fixed and discount rates on offer today.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 2. Average mortgage rate on outstanding mortgages still over 3%</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOO3JlfO94oIcxlF7BhuIx8XM5qK5kRec_Ox3AG2PPnWk0o0vKJibe3jkQ1LjYCv163zxHZS2nfBvQFoO71g0i9wKnRWYA-aXN1KthcVq613El2aFRofjTW1TQXiXAhS7scrxWW2K1As/s1600/mort-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYOO3JlfO94oIcxlF7BhuIx8XM5qK5kRec_Ox3AG2PPnWk0o0vKJibe3jkQ1LjYCv163zxHZS2nfBvQFoO71g0i9wKnRWYA-aXN1KthcVq613El2aFRofjTW1TQXiXAhS7scrxWW2K1As/s400/mort-2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: Bank of England</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let's say you are interested in remortgaging your house or flat. Where would you start and what should you watch out for?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Firstly, you can go the well-trodden route of checking out the online mortgage best buy tables at <a href="http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mortgages/" target="_blank">MoneySuperMarket.com</a>, <a href="http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/" target="_blank">MoneySavingExpert.com</a> or <a href="http://moneyfacts.co.uk/mortgages/best-mortgage-deals/" target="_blank">MoneyFacts</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before going any further, it is probably a good idea to sit down with your existing mortgage provider to see what they can offer you.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then if you're not satisfied, try the banks and building societies at the top of these tables. Or you could go to a specialist mortgage broker such as <a href="http://www.charcol.co.uk/" target="_blank">John Charcol</a> or <a href="http://www.lcplc.co.uk/remortgage/" target="_blank">London & Country Mortgages</a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But beware, some of these lowest interest rates come with catches: you may be hit with a high "arrangement fee" that can go as high as £1,499, or there may be penalties for early repayment. So be careful to examine the details.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Investing in the mortgage market: challenger banks, specialist lenders</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are some interesting ways to invest in a post-election pick-up in mortgage demand. Instead of looking at the Big Four UK banks, I would look to the new "challenger" banks that have recently been established, or look to specialist mortgage lenders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Listed challenger banks that are making a splash on the savings and loans markets include <b>Virgin Money</b> (code VM.), <b>Secure Trust Bank</b> (STB), <b>OneSavings Bank</b> (OSB) or <b>Aldermore Group</b> (ALD).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Virgin, OneSavings and Aldermore have all recently listed on the London Stock Exchange and are growing their savings and mortgage businesses quickly as they take business away from the Big Four.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Otherwise, for a really focused mortgage growth play, you could look at the <b>Paragon Group of Companies</b> (code PAG). Paragon specialises in residential mortgages (such as buy-to-let), personal and car loans.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They are forecast to grow profits by more than 10% per year for the next two years and trade on a very reasonable valuation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bottom line: if you haven't remortgaged already recently, check out the current best remortgage buys and see if you can save on your monthly payments.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-49109175263378581172015-05-14T05:41:00.003-07:002015-05-14T05:41:47.289-07:00CNBC TV Interview: Bonds - Expect more extreme moves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Edmund Shing, global equity portfolio manager at BCS Financial Group, says bond volatility is on the up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Click on link below to watch the video clip:</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232/?video=3000379443&play=1" target="_blank"><b>Bonds: Expect More Extreme Moves</b></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-19158709624836408982015-05-13T06:29:00.001-07:002015-05-13T06:29:26.651-07:00On Bloomberg TV: Discussing the Economy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BCS Asset Management’s Edmund Shing and Mizuho International’s Riccardo Barbieri discuss Greece’s ongoing talks with its creditors and an IMF payment that the country made. They speak to Bloomberg’s Jonathan Ferro on “On The Move.” (Source: Bloomberg)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Bloomberg TV link:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-05-13/greece-still-near-brink-despite-imf-payment-shing" target="_blank"><b>Greece Still Near Brink Despite IMF Payment: Shing</b></a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-11858895082142920842015-05-12T08:56:00.005-07:002015-05-12T08:56:59.545-07:00Goodbye Labour mansion tax, hello Tory post-election property bonanza at Berkeley and Foxtons <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>International Business Times Video link (click below):</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-goodbye-labour-mansion-tax-hello-tory-post-election-property-bonanza-berkeley-1500659?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ibtimesuk" target="_blank">Goodbye Labour mansion tax, hello Tory post-election property bonanza at Berkeley and Foxtons </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Could property be the big gainer from David Cameron's election win? Estate agent Foxtons and house builder Berkeley Group jumped 9%+ on 8 May. But why?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Clearly, the stock market has heaved a huge sigh of relief at the demise of the Labour Party. Now there is no fear of a mansion tax hitting London housing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is good news for house buyers at the £2m ($3m, €2.7m) plus price bracket, such as foreign buyers in London, who have been holding off any purchases up until now. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Equally well, with the risk of Labour's threatened rent controls now removed, the buy-to-let market could now see renewed activity.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Now that the Tories are in sole charge, they need to urgently tackle one of Britain's most pressing problems. London and the South East is the UK's economic heartbeat, but is desperately short of affordable housing.</div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
House prices still on the rise – outside London</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Halifax house price index rose 1.6% between March and April, and 8.5% over the last year, for a yearly gain of nearly £20,000 on the average house (<i>Figure 1</i>).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 1: UK house prices up by nearly £20,000 over the last year </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvg6Viw1M-OsmzFMbVVNXzzoOdqd8DawUk_3veLPHLeke8ZFOVBMGHkAJZkTPUCRr_mY7NJ-w236pc0vm6mN9rAsp1PRnSevoOfNAseRtCKgFgNJ9FSoqxFZw8sFFBPzwI-Ai904fmj4/s1600/prop1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbvg6Viw1M-OsmzFMbVVNXzzoOdqd8DawUk_3veLPHLeke8ZFOVBMGHkAJZkTPUCRr_mY7NJ-w236pc0vm6mN9rAsp1PRnSevoOfNAseRtCKgFgNJ9FSoqxFZw8sFFBPzwI-Ai904fmj4/s400/prop1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Lloyds Bank</i></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last year, London properties saw the fastest-rising prices. In contrast, it is the rest of the UK that has enjoyed stronger house price momentum over these last 3 months.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
According to the Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors (RICS), London is one of the very few regions where house prices have actually fallen over the last 3 months (<i>Figure 2</i>).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 2: House prices rising fastest in Northern Ireland</b> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsP8nzkh6agzbymo6W3ul_8Io5QJTmTtppnihzcTGl-lKRDerIm_7nn5NtxzuZgMDVcs70DK6w1FHVnmh5EivQK0bHKR2Wpuu_SnzQjJ0nXGGp-42Ey-HeKrmUDVYxhzCv7TWaTFbrLE/s1600/prop2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFsP8nzkh6agzbymo6W3ul_8Io5QJTmTtppnihzcTGl-lKRDerIm_7nn5NtxzuZgMDVcs70DK6w1FHVnmh5EivQK0bHKR2Wpuu_SnzQjJ0nXGGp-42Ey-HeKrmUDVYxhzCv7TWaTFbrLE/s400/prop2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors</i></div>
<div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Four factors should drive a rebound in buy-to-let house purchases:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li>Lifting of the threat of rent controls;</li>
<li>High demand for rental properties (<i>Figure 3</i>);</li>
<li>Falling mortgage interest rates: The Co-Op Bank are now offering a new 2-year fixed-rate mortgage at only 1.09%. This suggests that the first sub-1% mortgage rate could soon be here.</li>
<li>Falling savings rates: your saved cash is worth less and less in the bank, increasing the attractions of alternative income investments. </li>
</ol>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Figure 3: National rental demand remains very high </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpHPDakl1nsPIXPjzwR8SaccbWdLcXKpTM5zs4riQxpApVVaZJgRipFeHAZRNg83FnR652WLjAKYhSk_esVv-vfYXhbBzWnULGsULB-4JJRmpBd7fd0bnJJb3a_3thuDhzCVijhLyTPY/s1600/prop3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpHPDakl1nsPIXPjzwR8SaccbWdLcXKpTM5zs4riQxpApVVaZJgRipFeHAZRNg83FnR652WLjAKYhSk_esVv-vfYXhbBzWnULGsULB-4JJRmpBd7fd0bnJJb3a_3thuDhzCVijhLyTPY/s400/prop3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Source: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors</i></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
All good for estate agents and house builders</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
What are the best ways to invest in the UK housing market? These are my two favourite housing-related industries:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Estate agents:</b> Of course they buy and sell houses, and so make more money as house prices go up. But they also increasingly make money from the buy-to-let market, as they also act as letting agents.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>House builders:</b> who benefit from rising house prices as they can sell their newly-built homes for more, meaning higher profits.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
My two favourite housing shares: Berkeley Group and LSL</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I like the UK house builders as a group; they are all in general cheap, pay big dividends and are very profitable.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My favourite house builder is <b>Berkeley Group (code BKG)</b>. It is focused on London and the South East of England, it is a generous income payer with a 6.4% dividend yield, and has been consistently very profitable over the last five years.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There are handful of listed estate agents in the UK. I like <b>LSL Property Services (code LSL)</b>. LSL has two distinct sets of businesses:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>539 estate agent branches under a number of brands, such as Your Move and Reeds Rains;</li>
<li>Surveying and valuation services.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Both of these sets of businesses will make more money from a booming property market, whether from buying and selling or just from managing rented properties.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
LSL is also a cheap stock and a reasonable income payer with a 3.7% yield; it is also consistently very profitable, with profits forecast to grow by 10% this year.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Post-election Friday was a good day for the estate agents and house builders; but there could be many more as the property market heats up again!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-2346703740826466172015-05-07T03:10:00.002-07:002015-05-07T03:10:14.357-07:00It's Apple v Microsoft in the technology boxing match of the century<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: center;"><i>International Business Times Video Link (click below):</i></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-its-apple-v-microsoft-technology-boxing-match-century-1499724">IBT Video: its-apple-v-microsoft-technology-boxing-</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-its-apple-v-microsoft-technology-boxing-match-century-1499724">match-century-</a></div>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We have just witnessed the so-called boxing match of the century: Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. Reputedly grossing over half a billion US dollars, this is a financial windfall of the likes never seen before in professional sport.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the Mayweather v Pacquiao bout has its long-running mirror in the technology arena, with American technology giants Apple and Microsoft slugging it out for the crown of the most valuable company in the world since the dawn of the new millennium.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apple slugs it out with Microsoft</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back in 2000, Microsoft held sway with its dominance over the PC software market thanks to the prevalence of the Windows operating system and its Office software suite, wearing the "Technology Most Valuable" belt with pride.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Figure 1. Global iPhone Volume Sales Remain Very Strong </b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwloARuwK-nujxG-0s-hf5Wr1vgqdULGPX0jgZ90Xx0q97dqHv8rFR8wji2BnDNQRD1gSiUmr4GNn2nzH_LR6iv8r92VstmcgOKOJJush61IZrslIgNFI6i5HNTWNDkZL8OBm8qliF5T4/s1600/apple-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwloARuwK-nujxG-0s-hf5Wr1vgqdULGPX0jgZ90Xx0q97dqHv8rFR8wji2BnDNQRD1gSiUmr4GNn2nzH_LR6iv8r92VstmcgOKOJJush61IZrslIgNFI6i5HNTWNDkZL8OBm8qliF5T4/s400/apple-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: Apple</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But in 2015, it is Cupertino-based Apple that is the Floyd Mayweather of the tech world –wearing the crown for being the most valuable company in the world as it is worth over $750bn (£495.7bn, €674.2bn) and nearly twice the market size of Microsoft.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Recent Apple results have underlined the pre-dominance of the iPhone 6 and 6+ models, even taking reportedly a 25% market share of the Chinese smartphone market in the face of incredibly fierce domestic competition from handset makers Huawei, HTC and Xiaomi.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In fact, Apple sold more iPhone 6 handsets in China than in the US over the past three months. The 61.2 million iPhones sold globally over the second quarter (<i>Figure 1)</i> served to dish up outstanding financial results at Apple, beating the expectations of financial analysts by a wide margin.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unlike during the technology bubble in 2000, "old" technology names such as Apple (US code: AAPL) and Microsoft (US code: MSFT) are today substantially cheaper than the overall US stock market. Adjusted for the cash on the balance sheets of tech titans Apple, Microsoft and Google, you pay an average of under 12 times earnings for these globally dominant tech names; in contrast, you pay a much more expensive 18 times earnings for the overall US stock market (<i>Figure 2</i>).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 2. Apple, Microsoft & Google: Much Cheaper than the US Stock Market </b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGn1u-Lgi8obtfUHLXt2FSb6wpe5hwr0l_lT6Qg46ba9HsgRw0y6s4tRNkbg9n-1hTe3ZWbjWv9MN6UaxvkjxQldLbSWS1QLbXibSLOde2b5UHmZYQ_iUUhbM-_ovYBan4b8dKex8jFM/s1600/apple-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGn1u-Lgi8obtfUHLXt2FSb6wpe5hwr0l_lT6Qg46ba9HsgRw0y6s4tRNkbg9n-1hTe3ZWbjWv9MN6UaxvkjxQldLbSWS1QLbXibSLOde2b5UHmZYQ_iUUhbM-_ovYBan4b8dKex8jFM/s400/apple-2.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Lower P/E ratio is cheaper</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While Apple and Microsoft are cheap, they still offer solid prospective growth in both profits and dividends. The combination of cheap valuation and solid growth prospects in the technology sector could be a good reason to buy exposure. However, unless you have a stock market account that allows you to buy and sell US stocks, you may find it difficult to buy Apple or Microsoft shares directly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Buying US tech stocks via a fund</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In this case, buying a sterling-denominated exchange traded fund (ETF) or investment trust focused on US technology stocks may well be an easier option. These typically have substantial weightings in both Apple and Microsoft, given they are two of the largest stocks in the entire US stock market.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Five technology fund options are below (<i>Figure 3</i>), all with varying weightings in these two tech giants as well as the global internet and social media behemoths Google and Facebook.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Figure 3. UK-Listed Technology-Focused Exchange-Traded Funds, <br />Investment Trusts </b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD-XnLEdnEz8lBGz4Pt34-PkPHDHa9mC1tnSsVlKmAzoOkKNtnCVf4EryPZAZ3yLAZ6JPlzE6eF5d5bG3YU__34Z9YeHWfQLx6_XN-N9Z_Ywy4kLs-cdFnZGseRBGHQSH9ZQanhUJAnw/s1600/apple-3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRD-XnLEdnEz8lBGz4Pt34-PkPHDHa9mC1tnSsVlKmAzoOkKNtnCVf4EryPZAZ3yLAZ6JPlzE6eF5d5bG3YU__34Z9YeHWfQLx6_XN-N9Z_Ywy4kLs-cdFnZGseRBGHQSH9ZQanhUJAnw/s400/apple-3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: Company Factsheets</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Focus instead on UK technology stocks</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Instead of buying tech giants from the other side of the Atlantic, you may instead want to focus on technology closer to home. In that case, there are a number of UK technology stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Narrowing down our focus to the technology hardware space, there are few large-cap stocks left for us to buy, following the recent takeovers of UK technology stocks <b>CSR</b> (being acquired by US semiconductor maker Qualcomm) and <b>Pace </b>(being acquired by US set-top box maker Arris).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>ARM Holdings</b> (semiconductor design, code: ARM), <b>Imagination Technologies</b> (semiconductor chip maker eg for Apple, code: IMG) and <b>IQE</b> (semiconductors, code: IQE) are three that remain listed in the hardware space.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the UK software space, there are the likes of <b>Sage </b>(small company software, code SGE), <b>Micro Focus</b> (business software, code MCRO) and <b>Playtech</b> (gaming software, code PTEC).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, overall, the listed UK technology sector is getting smaller and smaller, with companies being swallowed up by larger US competitors. This trend may be a good additional reason to buy into medium-sized and smaller UK technology businesses, aside from the growth attractions in technology.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So there you have it, two ways to play the technology growth theme. You can go the US route, either buying the likes of Apple or Microsoft directly or by buying a US technology fund.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or there is the UK route, selecting from an ever shorter list of listed UK technology stocks, but perhaps benefiting from their status as potential takeover targets in a global sector.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-28204018202018178272015-04-29T05:53:00.000-07:002015-04-29T05:53:31.528-07:00After Shell, BG, Nokia and Alcatel, ITV and Indivior could join the takeover trail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>IB Times Video Link:</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-after-shell-bg-nokia-alcatel-itv-indivior-could-join-takeover-trail-1498686" target="_blank"><b><i>Edmund Shing: After Shell, BG, Nokia and Alcatel, ITV and Indivior could join the takeover trail</i></b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">KPMG says the merger and acquisition boom is back in 2015. Certainly, company takeover activity has been hotting up on both sides of the Atlantic these past few months – just think of Shell swallowing up BG in oil and gas, Nokia merging with Alcatel-Lucent in technology and FedEx buying up fellow Dutch logistics group TNT Express.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 1. What factor will drive deal activity in 2015? </b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ7pSYqUTEZF_9JQ51l8SHMssPbBXVUoRmlCBiyxLzPJOY3mpp0B2prFRTWxPLS1uPS1CBXXGOsCt5820ZzL3PrCYZ5WuvsssrnCD8JhHueUZ-vqbA5AXf-JzsZ0Jn1JfxEXSP5JP2pTs/s1600/tt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ7pSYqUTEZF_9JQ51l8SHMssPbBXVUoRmlCBiyxLzPJOY3mpp0B2prFRTWxPLS1uPS1CBXXGOsCt5820ZzL3PrCYZ5WuvsssrnCD8JhHueUZ-vqbA5AXf-JzsZ0Jn1JfxEXSP5JP2pTs/s1600/tt1.jpg" height="216" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: KPMG 2015 M&A Outlook Survey Report</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the main reasons for expecting more takeovers is the very high level of cash that large companies are holding, and the very low interest cost on company debt (Figure 1). With money burning a hole in corporate pockets, top executives want to go shopping for growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In trying to predict who could become the next takeover targets, we need to know the profiles of existing targets: which industries are seeing the greatest number of takeovers and takeover rumours, and what size of company is most likely to be susceptible to a takeover approach?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Technology, healthcare, media, insurance and oil and gas are ripe for consolidation</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I see four industries as prime hunting grounds to search for potential takeover targets, given recent takeover and merger activity in recent months:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Technology</b>: Nokia is merging with Alcatel-Lucent in telecoms equipment, while US set-top box maker Arris is buying UK set-top-box maker Pace for $2.1bn.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Healthcare</b>: In generic drug making, Israeli global leader Teva has bid some $40bn in cash and shares for US generic drug rival Mylan. Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, has revealed recently that it is hunting for healthcare acquisition targets in the $2bn to $5bn range.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Media</b>: AT&T's acquisition of DirectTV in the US and Liberty Global's purchase of Belgian media company De Vijver Media NV highlight the consolidation occurring in the US-dominated broadcast media industry, with media content becoming increasingly valuable to cable and TV distributors.<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Insurance</b>: Lloyd's of London insurers has been the focus for acquisition of late, with both Catlin and Brit Insurance bought up by larger North American insurers. We can also add the merger of close-end life assurer Friends Life with Aviva, highlighting the consolidation wave under way in insurance.</span></li>
</ol>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Interestingly, these same industries came top in the KPMG M&A survey too (<i>Figure 2</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 2. What factor will drive deal activity in 2015? </b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCvV_zTBSKv5a9sl4YRnbBJWVvb9pIp3TbD-_ehBDNOFLrjASpV320csTaPrH954CCSuS35Clp6l41IC1-_QUCkdpy9-MC0vwcDimzUGkgMrS9Gy5-cmpjaSARuBVES_J5Ap5knfKKLAI/s1600/tt2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCvV_zTBSKv5a9sl4YRnbBJWVvb9pIp3TbD-_ehBDNOFLrjASpV320csTaPrH954CCSuS35Clp6l41IC1-_QUCkdpy9-MC0vwcDimzUGkgMrS9Gy5-cmpjaSARuBVES_J5Ap5knfKKLAI/s1600/tt2.png" height="341" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Source: KPMG 2015 M&A Outlook </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Survey Report</span></i></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What size of company could be preferred for acquisition?</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While the Shell-BG deal is huge buying up huge, mid-cap companies are generally more likely to become tasty bite-sized morsels for cash-rich mega cap rivals to buy up growth prospects, relatively easy to finance and without all the complications of combining two huge companies with wide-ranging and complicated operations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Three potential UK mid-cap takeover targets</span></h3>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1 Indivior (Healthcare)</span></h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Indivior</b> (UK code: INDV) is the former pharmaceutical division of cleaning products and food maker Reckitt Benckiser, spun off from Reckitt as an independent, UK-listed company at the end of 2014. Its principal focus is on medicines to treat drug dependency, most notably alcohol, heroin and cocaine addiction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At a market capitalisation of £1.5bn, it is relatively small versus the UK industry giants GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Shire. Furthermore, it remains substantially cheaper on a number of valuation ratios such as price/earnings than any of these larger drug companies. Potential acquirers could be larger US-based drug makers who already produce opioid addiction treatments – Actavis, Endo Health and Janssen Pharmaceuticals.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 ITV (Media)</span></h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There has been a battle for broadcast media content globally in recent months, with persistent takeover rumours surrounding £11bn market capitalisation <b>ITV </b>(UK code: ITV). It has most recently popped up as a potential target for the likes of US cable operator giant Comcast, the largest company in the world by broadcasting and cable revenues.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These rumours have sent the TV share price, and thus valuation, rising substantially since November 2014, with ITV's jewel in the crown being its production arm ITV Studios, responsible for drama series such as Poldark.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3 Lancashire (Insurance)</span></h4>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Lancashire</b> (UK code: LRE) provides "global specialty insurance", operating as a Lloyd's of London insurer like acquired competitors Catlin and Brit Insurance. Attractions include a low valuation, high profitability levels and a juicy dividend yield projected to be as high as 9.5% in the future.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just like Catlin and Brit Insurance, Lancashire could be the next to fall prey to a US-based reinsurer looking to expand globally.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So these are three UK mid-cap gems that I like the look of from a fundamental basis, which could also become the subject of a share-price boosting takeover in the next few months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-88816455446126070582015-04-23T02:28:00.005-07:002015-04-23T02:28:55.858-07:00Bloomberg TV interview this morning - discussing China, Greece...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BCS Asset Management Global Equity Portfolio Manager Edmund Shing discusses </span><br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">China’s Flash PMI data, </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greece’s debt deal and </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">where he sees opportunity. </span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He speaks to Bloomberg’s Mark Barton, Caroline Hyde and Manus Cranny on “Countdown.” (Source: Bloomberg)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Bloomberg TV Video Link Below:</i></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-04-23/we-re-teetering-on-a-knife-edge-with-greece-shing" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">23/04/15 Bloomberg TV Interview: <br />Edmund Shing on China, Greece, opportunities</span></a></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-83689974524969637522015-04-22T00:47:00.003-07:002015-04-22T13:29:01.288-07:00CNBC Squawkbox Guest Host: Video on Chinese, Hong Kong Equities Value<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Edmund Shing, global equity portfolio manager of BCS Financial Group, says he still sees value in the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Please click below to view the VIDEO Link</i>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000372927&play=1" target="_blank"><b>CNBC TV: See value in Hong Kong, Chinese equities: Pro</b></a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-46487166962961964492015-04-21T09:24:00.006-07:002015-04-21T09:24:50.279-07:00Grexit Today, Brexit Tomorrow?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">IB Times Video Link (click on link below to view):</i></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-grexit-today-brexit-tomorrow-irelands-ryanair-smurfit-kappa-would-pay-profits-1497323" target="_blank">IB Times Video: grexit-today-brexit-tomorrow-<br />irelands-ryanair-smurfit-kappa-would-pay-profits</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Is the Greek government really preparing to leave the Eurozone and re-introduce the Drachma? Another week goes by, and still no deal between the Greek government and the European Union (EU), European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Time is running out for the Greeks to secure the financing from these negotiating parties that they require to avoid defaulting on their government bonds. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">But what is “Defaulting”, and why does it matter?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Defaulting simply means that the Greek government refuses to pay the contractual interest on borrowing it has previously taken out in the form of government bonds (which are simply IOUs to the eventual bond buyers). In addition, it means that the Greek government also refuses to repay the capital for loans that have arrived at maturity, meaning that the bond buyers who have previously lent their money to the Greek government will not get all of the original amount lent out back. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">This type of borrowing is quite unlike a capital repayment mortgage, where we take out a mortgage secured on a house for a fixed period of time e.g. 25 years. With such a mortgage, we are effectively repaying the lender (a bank or building society) a mixture of interest payment and capital repayment month by month, such that the entire original amount borrowed is repaid by the end of the life of the mortgage. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">And if we don’t make our monthly payments on time, the lender has the right eventually to repossess our house and resell it in order to recoup their original capital lent out plus interest payments due – i.e. “secured” lending.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Contrast this to the government bond type of borrowing, where a sovereign government issues IOUs in the form of selling bonds, promising to pay a set amount of interest every year until the end of life of the bond (e.g. 10 years), at which point they then have to repay the entire amount originally borrowed in one lump sum back to the lenders (the bond holders). </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">If, however, a country defaults by not paying the agreed interest payments on time or not repaying the original capital at the end of life of a bond, there is (generally) no asset that the original lender can seize to resell to recoup their capital and interest – it is “unsecured” lending. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">By not putting forward the essential economic reforms that the EU, the ECB and IMF are demanding in return for extending further loans to the Greek government, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Tsipras risks telling holders of Greek bonds that they will not get their interest payments and their capital lump sums back, as the Greek government coffers are already almost empty. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">This would not be the first time that a Greek government defaults on its debts – in fact, in the modern era Greece has defaulted five times (since 1826; <i>Figure 1</i>).</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Five Greek Debt Defaults Already in the Modern Era</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mjbt0qIEdrMYqx-_eiKxsNhz6dJlrpzmhZyF1goWsEIoHsV0ij11YU0GItAxU_gtaQfFdKW08HxGP49Z4AV7RTa5TmvG7TaHrBscX7g2Te-l0g0mOsurBQ67HnGbtuYDO605ot3WVxc/s1600/greece1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mjbt0qIEdrMYqx-_eiKxsNhz6dJlrpzmhZyF1goWsEIoHsV0ij11YU0GItAxU_gtaQfFdKW08HxGP49Z4AV7RTa5TmvG7TaHrBscX7g2Te-l0g0mOsurBQ67HnGbtuYDO605ot3WVxc/s1600/greece1.png" height="200" width="141" /></a></div>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Source: Forbes</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">How Much Longer Can The Greeks Struggle On Before Default and Grexit?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">So, the Greek government has already run out of money; it has been struggling on up to now by raiding whatever pots of cash it has been able to get its hand on in the very short-term. But as <i>Figure 2</i> shows, a big set of debt repayments are due in June, and an even larger amount of repayments come due in July.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Upcoming Greek Government Debt Repayment Schedule</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpCCM9PsfIOeLbqFtXUqMWhGumDWaqmAqeME07LHBC16Xq2lLFpju2xV2f0cjL9c-Z0yvnInY26LZWpHJ_RwR_ST12wo4qqctRcz-CWcz3bn70ZyWalhTMpkjh882Az2XPxUU2bfNcTc/s1600/greece2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpCCM9PsfIOeLbqFtXUqMWhGumDWaqmAqeME07LHBC16Xq2lLFpju2xV2f0cjL9c-Z0yvnInY26LZWpHJ_RwR_ST12wo4qqctRcz-CWcz3bn70ZyWalhTMpkjh882Az2XPxUU2bfNcTc/s1600/greece2.jpg" height="332" width="400" /></a></div>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Source: IMF, Datastream</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Without a reform deal acceptable to the EU, ECB and IMF, the Tsipras-led administration almost certainly has to decide either to default either by: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">not repaying bond holders (the largest of which are actually other Eurozone governments, the ECB and the IMF; <i>Figure 3</i>) or by </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">not paying its own citizens their pensions and state benefits. </span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Major Owners of Greek Debt</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2XHixXxO3tMMVIVCOY6Ie648Q82ogaYdMd3Bglekq-fbvPOH2fzxf75yknr3msWBvuaUQPVnIsxUl2PP5U07W-JNm5Py5tVJ11Vw18jynWDBlrg1LevPA1rBWrnKQAEq75dMz7QDtFw/s1600/greece3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2XHixXxO3tMMVIVCOY6Ie648Q82ogaYdMd3Bglekq-fbvPOH2fzxf75yknr3msWBvuaUQPVnIsxUl2PP5U07W-JNm5Py5tVJ11Vw18jynWDBlrg1LevPA1rBWrnKQAEq75dMz7QDtFw/s1600/greece3.jpg" height="258" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Source: Der Spiegel, portfolioticker.com</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">What Might This Mean for the European Union; What Chance of Brexit too?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">While the Greeks might be able to struggle on despite a default, and stay in theory part of the Eurozone, in practice they would be forced to exit the Eurozone in short order, the so-called “Grexit”. Frankly, this could prove chaotic for financial markets as no-one really knows how a Eurozone member can exit the single monetary union (it was never legislated for when the euro was created). </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">This could also have some serious knock-on effects for British membership of the European Union, as a Grexit could prove a serious blow to the reputation of the EU in the UK, adding grist to the mill of UKIP and the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">A Greek exit from the Eurozone could effectively increase the chance that Britain leaves the European Union in a post-election referendum, which in turn could prove a massive problem for those UK companies doing a lot of their business with our European Union partners like Germany and France – the European Union as a block remains the UK’s largest trading partner by far at 51% of UK exports (<i>Figure 4)</i>…</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Who the UK Trades With</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYCWt9qg_Lvtx_eVgk2zyb945lLLfvhLjya8H4hiU2ip7KpQgB154w5RemWDlL4HBrEvPBYjcT4yf34I6Ehj_-YqsWQvf1v5AH_BfimUFaSjlneQHRX366SX6fvKpgFgMBrmcJUxJpE3Q/s1600/greece4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYCWt9qg_Lvtx_eVgk2zyb945lLLfvhLjya8H4hiU2ip7KpQgB154w5RemWDlL4HBrEvPBYjcT4yf34I6Ehj_-YqsWQvf1v5AH_BfimUFaSjlneQHRX366SX6fvKpgFgMBrmcJUxJpE3Q/s1600/greece4.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>Source: HMRC (2012)</i></span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">One potential consequence could be the flight of companies to set up their head offices and operations in the Republic of Ireland, which would then become even more attractive as a business destination for several reasons:</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It uses the euro as its trading currency, </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It offers a low 12.5% corporate tax rate for overseas companies; and </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Good access to a (cheaper thanks to a weaker euro) skilled workforce plus easy transport access.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Conclusions: A Body Blow for the UK Economy?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">F</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">ailure for the Greek government to reach a last-minute deal with the EU, ECB and IMF is becoming ever more likely day by day. This could trigger a chaotic Greek exit from the Euro, leading volatility to surge in the financial markets. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Any subsequent post-election British exit from the European Union risks the loss of Europe-linked jobs in export-oriented sectors such as the car industry, and would potentially also be a body blow for the City of London, which a massive invisible export earner for the UK – opening the door for Frankfurt to challenge London once again for the crown of Europe’s pre-eminent financial centre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Buy Into Irish Stocks</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">How can you profit from the Grexit + Brexit risks? By buying into major Irish stocks that could stand to benefit from any flight of UK companies to Dublin: I like </span>Smurfit Kappa<span style="font-weight: normal;"> (code: SKG), </span>Ryanair <span style="font-weight: normal;">(code: RYA) and </span>Hibernia REIT<span style="font-weight: normal;"> (code: HBRN). </span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Edmund</span></div>
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</h4>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-19079139170313709862015-04-15T02:27:00.000-07:002015-04-15T02:27:10.751-07:00Oil Takeover Targets – Who’s Next?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Has a rush to buy up oil & gas companies just started? Royal Dutch Shell is set to become by far the largest FTSE 100 member by market capitalisation at 7.6% of the index (<i>Figure 1</i>), worth nearly £160 billion and 35% larger than the second-largest company HSBC, once it completes the £47 billion purchase of BG later this year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Royal Dutch Shell Worth 7.6% of FTSE 100 Post BG Deal</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAhTV1lYUoVoitq1-WaL6GP473CDGMzzHDQnbeXrqGN3MjtihNlfy0uNcLr2xZJZHb_-Y_1LaQslzs1ogc3it7jEfzyV7J9IITIkVNCkwhsvMmwtxNT8rwdgcromcpfYenRv0NlyeuH4/s1600/shell+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinAhTV1lYUoVoitq1-WaL6GP473CDGMzzHDQnbeXrqGN3MjtihNlfy0uNcLr2xZJZHb_-Y_1LaQslzs1ogc3it7jEfzyV7J9IITIkVNCkwhsvMmwtxNT8rwdgcromcpfYenRv0NlyeuH4/s1600/shell+1.png" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: Author, stockopedia.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the late 1990s, the oil price plunged to $10 per barrel and set off a wave of oil industry mega-mergers: Exxon with Mobil, Chevron with Texaco, BP with Amoco. Fast forward to April 2015, and once again the oil price has plunged, more than halving from $110 per barrel in July last year to just $50 by January this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now we have a new oil & gas mega-merger, Royal Dutch Shell taking over BG (the gas-dominated exploration and production arm of the former British Gas). This is in fact the second big oil company merger announced in the past few months, following US oil services company Halliburton which announced a merger with rival Baker Hughes in November last year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why is Shell Buying BG?</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With this purchase of BG, which has been beset by fundamental problems for some time, Shell is buying access to oil and gas reserves in Brazil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) capability. These assets allow Shell to grow their oil & gas reserve base (replacing oil and gas currently being produced) and to be a dominant player in the growing LNG market, alongside the state of Qatar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The basic idea is this: that the oil & gas-producing assets of BG are cheaper for Shell to buy in principle than developing new oil & gas fields and putting them into production – the so-called “replacement” cost. Why take the risk of developing new oil fields (which may not even produce as expected), when you can buy proven, producing oil & gas reserves off the shelf?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who Else Could Be Looking To Buy Oil & Gas Assets?</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While Shell has already chosen its prey, which other mega-oil companies could also be looking to buy up cheap oil & gas reserves? As the oil & gas market is global by nature, we have to look abroad for potential acquirers. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the US, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco are the two largest integrated oil companies with the financial muscle to do big deals. In Europe, Total of France and Statoil of Norway stand out as huge integrated oil companies that might find it easier and cheaper to buy up oil & gas reserves via acquisition of companies rather than by developing new oil & gas fields from scratch. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who could be next to succumb to oil merger mania? BP?</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the UK, there are both big and smaller potential acquisition targets in the Oil & Gas sector. In a previous IBT article I have highlighted the attractions of the ailing BP (hurt by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Macondo disaster). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">BP could be an interesting target for the two US mega-oil companies Exxon and Chevron, given its huge asset base in the US/Alaska. I should note that BP has gained over 10% since I discussed it back in December last year, and BP’s market size is only 35% that of Exxon and 63% that of Chevron (<i>Figure 2</i>)…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>BP Could Be a Target For US Giants Exxon, Chevron</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPqrXVhMnCjlcdzv7W5JEOphwzjNGH7TY2gTkiIdH_SL8gE6_LDRdgJD3GUsR41CSB0JApfV9RzMgeLfD446ry8InUxXzYVhUwTRsKenBFC-62kIb4Fk10Hy9rG8yUlPTDRH3BL3ZmR0/s1600/bp+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPqrXVhMnCjlcdzv7W5JEOphwzjNGH7TY2gTkiIdH_SL8gE6_LDRdgJD3GUsR41CSB0JApfV9RzMgeLfD446ry8InUxXzYVhUwTRsKenBFC-62kIb4Fk10Hy9rG8yUlPTDRH3BL3ZmR0/s1600/bp+2.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: Bloomberg.com</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other Potential UK-Based Targets: Tullow, Premier Oil, EnQuest, Ithaca Energy</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Otherwise, the oil exploration & production companies Tullow Oil (total company value: £5.2 billion; code TLW) and Premier Oil (total company value: £2.2 billion; code PMO) have both been cited as potential acquisition targets, and look cheap when comparing their total company value (the value of all shares + value of debt) to the number of barrels of oil they hold as Proven + Probable (2P) reserves in their developed oil fields (<i>Figure 3</i>). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For instance, Premier Oil is currently valued at just $13 per barrel of 2P oil reserves following a drop of more than 50% in its share price from September 2014 to now (from 348p to 159p). Could an integrated oil giant swoop to acquire these now-cheap oil reserves?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Four Small/Mid-Cap Oil Targets? Valued at $10-22 Per Barrel of Oil Reserves</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ3WRft7LwobO_MtpQhxN-QQNz0rRBaLSpDsi5ZM3XUQyLUXCObvyZZ7xIoD_BEx_SQGXzkJlHTcHAIIcVinUbwhhyphenhyphen3dq5ILa7bMGD9m3mKh8oAU33W6p9CU-zFmWU2JeuPjOiqRzodU/s1600/bid+targets+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZ3WRft7LwobO_MtpQhxN-QQNz0rRBaLSpDsi5ZM3XUQyLUXCObvyZZ7xIoD_BEx_SQGXzkJlHTcHAIIcVinUbwhhyphenhyphen3dq5ILa7bMGD9m3mKh8oAU33W6p9CU-zFmWU2JeuPjOiqRzodU/s1600/bid+targets+3.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: Author, Company reports</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Both Tullow Oil and Premier Oil have global oil & gas interests, spanning from West and North Africa to Pakistan and the Falkland Islands.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Closer to home, other acquisition targets could inc</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">lude the smaller, North Sea-focused oil exploration and production companies <b>EnQuest</b> (code ENQ, current share price 42p) and <b>Ithaca Energy</b> (code IAE; current share price 46.5p). Both of these companies also look like potentially cheap acquisitions for larger oil company predators, at values of only $6 and $14 respectively per barrel of oil held in their various North Sea oil fields, and benefit from the reduction in North Sea oil taxes in the latest UK Budget. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There you have it: five UK-listed oil companies of varying sizes that could become tasty acquisition targets for global oil companies!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Edmund</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-563307134978255382015-04-09T00:51:00.004-07:002015-04-09T00:53:23.837-07:00CNBC TV: Greek reforms - The risks ahead<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From my recent Guest Host spot on CNBC's Closing Bell with Louisa Bojesen:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Edmund Shing, global equity portfolio manager at BCS Financial Group, discusses Greece's reform plans and the potential risks ahead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Video Link below:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000369023&play=1" target="_blank">CNBC TV: Greek Reforms - the risks ahead</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-11017378018694412312015-04-08T05:53:00.000-07:002015-04-08T05:53:01.428-07:00Idris Elba gives Superdry the premium touch as Debenhams enjoys its sweet spot<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">International Business Times Video Link below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-idris-elba-gives-superdry-premium-touch-debenhams-enjoys-its-sweet-spot-1494129" target="_blank">IB Times Video: Idris-elba-gives-superdry-premium-touch-debenhams-enjoys-its-sweet-spot</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We as a nation spent £26.5bn (€36bn, $39bn) in the shops during February, ie £6.6bn per week. The latest retail sales data reveals we bought 5.7% more stuff from shops in the second month of the year than in 2014, an impressive growth rate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Clearly the combination of increasing employment, rising wages and lower petrol prices are driving greater consumer optimism and are all leading us to open up our wallets and spend with abandon...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A schizophrenic retail sector: Supermarkets pressured, non-food flies</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Looking under the hood of retail sales statistics reveals two very different trends at work: firstly, supermarkets continue to have a tough time, with sales flat and prices under pressure (food prices on average 2% lower now than this time in 2014).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Secondly, in sharp contrast, the non-food retail sector is enjoying a boom (<i>Figure 1</i>), with a 5.3% increase in retail sales value over a year ago.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 1. A tale of two sectors: Food retail flat, non-food booms</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi073yzPLO-yqQStoeotAjXhxxxcDrRqPoWpKOSepNGqSbjHbRUfErmF-yFZx4oPLWc0o8Uw1cwKXPSawbwlTNOt6iSZJLNIB12DNASfmpO7Q4YLEQYKdTjAfLE8lnTVXjMX2aBYP37Ssc/s1600/1+tale-two-sectors.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi073yzPLO-yqQStoeotAjXhxxxcDrRqPoWpKOSepNGqSbjHbRUfErmF-yFZx4oPLWc0o8Uw1cwKXPSawbwlTNOt6iSZJLNIB12DNASfmpO7Q4YLEQYKdTjAfLE8lnTVXjMX2aBYP37Ssc/s1600/1+tale-two-sectors.png" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: Office for National Statistics</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Digging deeper, the sectors producing the best growth at the moment are clothing, electrical appliances and household goods (furniture, lighting,<i> Figure 2</i>), all growing at over 6% per year.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Figure 2. Clothing, electrical and household goods in the lead</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaNe1FPrCdXi3yEhtjahOxspM3DL26ycRN1IXFmkfZM8PnTA3_RV4YH0MpBastZat7h7ZBqMuf869H_XCXZJQyWfXde9b2pp_dSFpkeWRVwbjXlVOlJ655N-1EOf2zxUq618sq8gowY8/s1600/2+electrical-household-goods.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaNe1FPrCdXi3yEhtjahOxspM3DL26ycRN1IXFmkfZM8PnTA3_RV4YH0MpBastZat7h7ZBqMuf869H_XCXZJQyWfXde9b2pp_dSFpkeWRVwbjXlVOlJ655N-1EOf2zxUq618sq8gowY8/s1600/2+electrical-household-goods.png" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Source: Office for National Statistics. Data as of February 2015</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the UK retail space, the obvious names come to mind such as the veritable Marks & Spencer, Next and even Whitbread (the owner of Costa Coffee, Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So which companies should be making hay? Debenhams and SuperGroup</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I would focus right now on two other retail names: department store chain Debenhams and the owners of the popular Superdry fashion brand, SuperGroup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I like Debenhams (code: DEB) for a number of reasons:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It sits in the current sweet spot of retailing, offering clothing, footwear and household goods in its department stores.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Current trading is strong, following the strong key Christmas period with 4.9% like-for-like sales growth. Online was strong too with its <a href="http://debenhams.com/">debenhams.com</a> website growing sales by 29% over the four-week period, helped by the success of its click-and-collect service.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gross profit margins continue to improve, highlighting the better cost control and fewer discounted items sold.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Valuation remains cheap at only 10x P/E (thus far cheaper than Next, Marks & Spencer or Associated British Foods – owner of Primark; <i>Figure 3</i>), while income lovers will like the 4.6% dividend yield paid out. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Figure 3. Debenhams, SuperGroup cheaper than other UK retailers</b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VCNDum0am0Qcg9H0ko2gK_TzL5ucU5VUXBwP15KJ59fvUdDJGU_s-rj4op8cM_DT6eNpefpAy1kYGDasDYU3G2HNml18kOlQOaly5uid1Ng5Rc4Mf53uSKZt5t4JBhVAcAMBSVufDMY/s1600/3+debenhams-supergroup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VCNDum0am0Qcg9H0ko2gK_TzL5ucU5VUXBwP15KJ59fvUdDJGU_s-rj4op8cM_DT6eNpefpAy1kYGDasDYU3G2HNml18kOlQOaly5uid1Ng5Rc4Mf53uSKZt5t4JBhVAcAMBSVufDMY/s1600/3+debenhams-supergroup.png" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Source: <a href="http://stockopedia.com/">Stockopedia.com</a>. Note: SuperGroup P/E adjusted for net cash</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The stock has been on a strong run of late, rising from under 60p in October 2014 to touch a peak at the end of February of over 80p, before settling back to 76p now. I think there could be plenty more upside left in Debenhams, given the following winds from the UK economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">SuperGroup: Buying into the new strategy</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SuperGroup (code SGP), the retailer behind Superdry, has decided to buy back the distribution rights for its fashion brand in the US, so as to sell Superdry clothing Stateside rather than through a partner. At the moment, Superdry is not making money in the US, but this strategic move highlights the new management's confidence in its US growth potential.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Secondly, it has recruited actor Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther, Prometheus, Pacific Rim, Thor) for a collaboration on a new premium range of Superdry clothing, which should deliver a boost to UK sales.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thirdly, it is initiating a dividend for the first time, which will allow part of the £66m of cash on its balance sheet to be progressively returned to shareholders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Top-line growth for Superdry is still estimated to beat 10% per year going forwards, generating 12-14% earnings growth. For this, an investor is paying just over 13x P/E on an ex-cash basis, which seems a remarkably good deal for this recovering branded goods growth story. So shop till you drop with Debenhams and SuperGroup.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-74285545271956659232015-04-08T05:46:00.000-07:002015-04-08T05:46:08.564-07:00Pension reforms - freedom, stealth tax or a scandal-in-waiting?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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International Business Times Video Link below:</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/edmund-shing-pension-reforms-freedom-stealth-tax-scandal-waiting-1495183" target="_blank">IBT Video: Pension-reforms-freedom-stealth-tax-scandal-waiting</a></span></div>
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Does anyone fully understand the UK's new pension rules? I have tried, and let me tell you, it is not at all easy! For a start, thanks to the Government's haste in pulling this pre-election rabbit out of its budget hat, the venerable HM Revenue & Customs is still releasing guidance notes on the details of the taxation and rules governing private pensions.</div>
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So there is hardly any surprise to see that the over-55s are having such a hard time trying to figure out what they should do with their private pension pots, and with any annuities that they may already have been bought. At the best of times, the subject of pensions is poorly understood by the vast majority of people, and the radical changes to pension legislation enacted over the last two tax years have only served to increase the confusion.</div>
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Risk 1: Another Mis-Selling Scandal in the Making? Get Proper Advice!</h3>
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In my view, the combination of (a) radical changes in pension rules, combined with (b) the difficulty of the subject for most people, could open the floodgates for mis-selling of new pension products. One obvious danger: the over-charging of pensioners and would-be pensioners for dealing with pensions, e.g. the cashing in of annuities, resulting in pensioners getting very poor value for money.</div>
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Whoever said that giving people more choice was always a good thing? I would remind you that the last time a radical change was made to the pension system back in 1988, allowing the contracting-out of the State Second Pension, six million people opted out of SERPS, of which 2.4 million were later found to have been poorly advised and were potentially worse off as a result.</div>
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Even a body as august as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK financial services watchdog, has flagged up the risk of poor advice and mis-selling surrounding these pension reforms. So far, the FCA has contented itself with warning the pensions and insurance industry that it must behave itself and treat clients fairly. But it has quite clearly flagged up this mis-selling risk.</div>
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<b>My Pensions Tip #1: Take your time, get professional advice (without overpaying for it!) and if in doubt, do nothing!</b></div>
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While I normally shudder at the thought of getting professional advice regarding investment and taxation, in this case the sheer complexity of the subject of pensions and the huge number of new choices available make good advice essential.</div>
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Good first steps in getting unbiased pensions advice include reading the Government-sponsored Money Advice Service's web page on Options for using your pension pot, and calling the official Government-pension advice service,The Pension Advisory Service on 0300 123 1047.</div>
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Risk 2: The Government's tax trap – a big tax bill CAN be avoided</h3>
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Even if you manage to avoid this mis-selling trap, there are other potential pension bear traps lying in wait for you. One of the choices open to you as an over-55 with one or more private pensions is cashing out more than the 25% of your private pension pot that you can take out tax-free as a lump sum. Now, you can theoretically take out your entire pension pot to spend as you like – the so-called "Lamborghini pension".</div>
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However, this withdrawal from your pension is subject to the balance over 25% of the pot being subject to income tax at your marginal tax rate, which could then be as much as 40% of the total amount "liberated" if the sum withdrawn takes your annual income over the 409% tax threshold.</div>
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According to the HMRC's own calculations, they estimate that 130,000 of the 400,000 people that are eligible to access their pensions each year in this way to do so, with the HMRC to potentially receive £320m in extra income tax for 2015/16, rising to £1.2bn by 2018/19, for a total over 5 years of £3.8bn (<i>Figure 1</i>).</div>
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<b>1. HMRC Due to Get £3.8bn Over 5 Years from Extra Pension Tax </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrtdNir5qvHPmxaXL2vkI9JfuygVcVFCCgD14wySXtbL00kQ9EtjdjoAOSHj0X2Cil6DGp5bKE2fg_t5GSmcHge8WNnlqok8ssAf_oBpyB-LLp5BYE_hUTM4hQrwUmBQhCYAuYrrIwb0/s1600/pensions-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrtdNir5qvHPmxaXL2vkI9JfuygVcVFCCgD14wySXtbL00kQ9EtjdjoAOSHj0X2Cil6DGp5bKE2fg_t5GSmcHge8WNnlqok8ssAf_oBpyB-LLp5BYE_hUTM4hQrwUmBQhCYAuYrrIwb0/s1600/pensions-1.png" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: HM Revenue & Customs</i></div>
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<b>My Pensions Tip #2: Now there are a number of ways to liberate your private pensions without paying an inordinate amount of extra tax to HMRC.</b></div>
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But the way to accomplish this will depend on your particular situation and your goals, and is thus beyond the scope of this short article – and that is why you need proper professional advice!</div>
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Risk 3: A Rush to Buy Overvalued Buy-to-Let Properties</h3>
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After the sharp rise in UK house prices (+21%) since the depths of the 2008-09 Financial Crisis, using your pension pot to buy an income via a buy-to-let property given average 5.0% gross rental yields could be very enticing. But beware: this is not necessarily as easy as it may seem.</div>
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Firstly, house prices can go down as well as up! So your capital is not free of risk – an obvious statement perhaps, but one which bears repeating. Secondly, a monthly income from the rent is not guaranteed either; houses and flats can lie unlet for months on end, even costing the owner money as the Council Tax must still be paid on the property.</div>
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And of course, there is always the cost of maintenance and potentially the cost of a letting agent to consider too. All in all, the net (i.e. after-cost) buy-to-let rental yield (the annual rental income after all costs, as a proportion of the initial total cost of the property including stamp duty, conveyancing and solicitor's fees) may be nothing like as attractive as you may at first think.</div>
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<b>My Pensions Tip #3: Think hard and do realistic net rental income calculations before going to the effort of taking a large cash lump sum out of your private pension to plunge into the buy-to-let property market!</b></div>
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Annuities are probably still a good choice for most people</h3>
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Remember, despite all the bad press about annuities, they are not necessarily a bad thing!</div>
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First of all, what is an annuity exactly? It is simply a form of income guarantee: in return for a lump sum paid up front, an annuity provider (typically an insurance company) promises to pay you a regular monthly income for the rest of your life, however long you live.</div>
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There are many different types of annuities to consider, for which once again, advice will be required in order to choose between the various options. But the idea of a guaranteed income for life is no bad thing, as it removes the risk for most people that they exhaust their pension pot at some point, and then be forced to suffer a big drop in income as a result.</div>
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Right now, while annuity rates may have dropped over the last few years, a non-smoking male aged 65 today can guarantee an income of over £5,600 per year for life in return for a £100,000 lump sum payment from his pension pot (<i>Figure 2</i>).</div>
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<b>2. 65-Year Old Non-Smoking Male Can Get a 5.6% Annuity Rate Today </b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OotEP9GYHSZVX06PD0U7XisoPEYtjq9H_k8oAFmJvg4JGaZZt0KHUpeh4Qpjv1CQCN8vNJo5XaQW4n1P9IY4D43K37L-xIF3Q9us6NIPHI7Rtj-BHcCI5k2lVkAuik2rKHE1YQMst34/s1600/pensions-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0OotEP9GYHSZVX06PD0U7XisoPEYtjq9H_k8oAFmJvg4JGaZZt0KHUpeh4Qpjv1CQCN8vNJo5XaQW4n1P9IY4D43K37L-xIF3Q9us6NIPHI7Rtj-BHcCI5k2lVkAuik2rKHE1YQMst34/s1600/pensions-2.jpg" height="207" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: Moneyfacts.co.uk</i></div>
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<b>My Pensions Tip #4: So at the very least, buying an annuity with at least part of your private pension pot to ensure a minimum guaranteed level of income over and above the State Pension is probably a good choice for most people.</b></div>
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Overall, then, I don't want to sound like a complete party pooper – there are a number of very positive features of George Osborne's pension freedom changes for current and prospective pensioners; but at the same time, Caveat Pensioner!</div>
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In future articles, I will examine other potential investment options for your private pension cash, including the attractions of owning a portfolio of shares in solid dividend-paying companies...</div>
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Edmund</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-53117650123551995522015-04-08T05:37:00.002-07:002015-04-08T05:38:31.425-07:00Bloomberg TV Video: BG Group Shareholders Have Been Rescued by Shell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BCS Financial Group Global Equity Portfolio Manager Edmund Shing discusses both the outlook for European markets and Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of BG Group. He speaks with Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” (Source: Bloomberg)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Video Link below:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-04-08/bg-group-shareholders-have-been-rescued-by-shell-shing" target="_blank">Bloomberg TV: BG Shareholders Rescued by RD Shell</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229104114347314100.post-55774064776368617732015-03-26T06:16:00.001-07:002015-03-26T06:16:34.767-07:00On Bloomberg TV - Interviews on Europe/Greece, Crude Oil Outlook<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I would like to highlight a couple of videos from my
interview this morning on Bloomberg TV, looking at a number of Strategy issues
including Oil and Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Please click on the web links below to watch the videos:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Europe<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-03-26/eu-bill-has-arrived-for-greece-pay-it-shing" target="_blank">Bloomberg TV Video: On Europe, Greece</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On Oil<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-03-26/markets-ignored-geopolitics-in-oil-until-now-shing" target="_blank">Bloomberg TV Video: On Oil (Edmund Shing)</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04326950746285345366noreply@blogger.com1